Large Urea Granules for Broadcast Application for No-till Cropping - University of Alberta, Ellerslie, AB
Large and regular sized urea applied with and without urease and nitrification inhibitors, surface applied in fall or spring under no-till cropping.
IPNI-2009-CAN-AB27
02 Feb 2010
2009 Annual Interpretive Summary
Spring wheat was grown for the N experiment at Ellerslie, Alberta, but cool and dry conditions experienced Research in Alberta and North Dakota has supported the use of urea granules larger than regular, ag-grade urea as a means of increasing crop yield and reducing the potential for denitrification losses. Thus, larger urea granules (up to 10 mm in diameter) commonly used in helicopter applications in replanted forest stands, and in agro-forestry plantations, could be used in broadcast applications for no-till cropping systems in the Northern Great Plains (NGP). The research noted above was largely done by hand application in small field research plots because existing spin-broadcast applicators could not achieve an even spread with larger urea granules. More recent pneumatic spreaders do have the capability to handle these larger granules. Past research has also investigated the addition of a nitrification inhibitor (dicyandiamide, DCD) with different-sized urea granules...although such treated granules were not commercially available at the time. Recent developments now allow the treatment of different-sized urea granules with both a urease and a nitrification inhibitor (i.e., Agrotain® and DCD).
This study investigates: two application timings (fall versus spring); two urea granule sizes (regular 3 mm and large 10 mm); four Inhibitors (regular untreated urea, urea+Agrotain®, and urea+Agrotain®+DCD, and Agrotain® plus N-Serve® (nitrapyrin); three incorporations (no incorporation, harrowing, and sweep chisel-plow tillage). The potential benefits to the agriculture industry are a low cost, low energy input method of applying N to no-till cropped fields in the NGP with reduced potential for ammonia volatilization losses. The fall 2009 treatments were applied as planned, and the spring applications will be done in late April 2010. Barley will be planted in early May 2010 and harvested in late August. AB-27